Illinois has lost the bet for our future, and now might have to sell off Lincoln memorabilia to cover the debt

Two totally unrelated news items struck a nerve in me last week and, taken together, they show the depths of depravity we’ve reached in this state and this day and age.

One item was the revelation the state is considering selling some of its treasured Abraham Lincoln artifacts because it can’t pay back the loan used to buy them.

Among the items considered for the auction block to pay back about $10 million are Lincoln’s iconic stovepipe hat or the bloodied gloves he wore on the night of his assassination.

The other news that came down this week was a decision by the Supreme Court on sports gambling, opening the door to legal betting on all sports everywhere in the United States.

Many states, including Illinois, are now champing at the bit to get access to the estimated billions of dollars wagered on sports games by Americans.

I’m not talking about Super Bowl office pools. I’m talking about the wagering on outcomes of football, basketball and baseball games that today can only be done in Las Vegas.

You want to bet on the Cubs winning the World Series this year? Take your $100 to Vegas.

But with this ruling, once the state figures out how to control it, such a bet could be placed at a state-licensed casino.

Of course sports betting has a long history. It gives everyone a little stake in the games we watch, and therefore makes those games a bit more interesting.

If you’ve ever been to a boring Cubs game or Bears game, you probably know what I’m talking about.

After about the fourth inning of no runs and no hits and maybe going on your third beer, someone in the group speaks up and says, “Anyone want to make this interesting?”

Everybody’s ears perk up. “What do you mean?” someone else asks.

“Bet you a buck the next guy strikes out.” Then someone else says “I bet he gets a hit,” maybe another guy wagers on a ground out.

Such betting makes even the routine plays a bit more interesting.

Heck, you could even nickel-dime balls and strikes.

The type of bets you can place is endless. The final outcome of a game, total points, the difference in scores, individual performances and so on.

Such friendly wagers at an outing may be part of the price of going to a game with your buddies.

But habitual gambling is a large problem in society. It is one that grows and takes on a life of its own. And it is one that destroys lives and families.

A habitual gambler never wins. They think the string of bad luck will end with just one good hand or one lucky draw. But it doesn’t. And so they borrow the cash they need to gamble some more, and when they lose and can’t pay their debts, they raid junior’s college fund or sell off the family treasures.

The state of Illinois has been doing some gambling. I’m not talking about bowl games or sports games. I’m talking about a kind of poker with the future.

The corrupt system that is politics in Illinois has promised retirement benefits to teachers, municipal workers and a whole bunch of party governmental hacks. And looking ahead, the state doesn’t have the money to fulfill those promises.

So today the state, like the habitual losing gambler it is, may have to pawn off some family treasures — perhaps the stovepipe hat worn by the beloved President Lincoln, or the gloves he wore the night he was martyred — to pay some bad debts.

Illinois is going to grasp at this Supreme Court ruling, and sell it as the salvation to our money woes. But it won’t last. Maybe we can sell Lincoln’s house. It hasn’t been lived in for quite a while and is within walking distance of downtown Springfield.